Cableway.



W. J. A. RANKIN.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTC-LITHQ, WASHINGTON, D. C.

W, J. A. RANKIN.

GABLEWAY.

12211101111011 111 121) 11110.14, 1912. 1,133,818, Patented Mar. 30,1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON. u. 1.

W. J. A. RANKIN.

GABLEWAY. APPLICATION FILED DEO.14, 1912.

4 SHEETS"SHEET 3 Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTQ-LITHQ, wA'sHlNGTvN. D, (L

. RANKIN.

GABLBWAY. APPLICATION FILED DBO. 14, 1912.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

THE NORRIS PETERS 50., PHOTO-LITHQ, WASHINGTON. D. C.

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WILLIAIE JAMES ALEXANDER RANKIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO LIDGER-WOOD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 01'? NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OF NEWYORK.

GABLEWAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

Application filed December 14, 1912. Serial No. 736,670.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM JAMES ALEXANDER RANKIN, a citizen of theUnited States, residing at New York city, borough of Manhattan, in thecounty of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Cableways, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates broadly and generally to new and usefulimprovements in cableways for hoisting and transporting loads, and moreparticularly to that type of cableway in which a plurality of supportsare employed between which are stretched a plurality of cables intandem. In tandem cableways it has been usual to employ end supports andone or more intermediate supports, the supporting cables being fixed tothe intermediate support or supports and carried over the end supportsand anchored beyond said end supports. This construction necessitateslarge factors of safety, extensive guying of the intermediate supportsso that they will not be swung or tipped from the perpendicular, whichguys, in order to have their greatest efficiency, must necessarilyextend in directions to interfere with the operation of the cableway,and the intermediate support or supports are subjected to the fullpulling strains of the load tending to tip them from vertical position.The objections just stated are particularly present when theintermediate support or supports must necessarily be built of greatheight so that the guying or bracing is complicated, and said support orsupports are more likely to be tipped or wrecked under the weight of theload than where shorter lengths of supports are used. Also in the tandemcableways, an excess of load on one cable over that on another oftentips the support toward the greater load and if the strain is greatenough may wreck or disable the support.

It is the object of my invention to provide means in a tandem cablewaywhereby the intermediate support or supports will not be subjected tothe full strain of one of the cables pulling thereon in one direction,but such strain will be compensated for in such a manner as to bedistributed upon another cable, or other cables, and be resisted by theend towers or the end anchorages for the cables, and so that the strainson the intermediate support or supports in opposite directions will beequalized, thereby preventing excess of load on one cable from tippingor wrecking the support.

The invention consists in the construction of parts, and theirarrangement in operative combination to be more fully de scribedhereinafter and the novelty of which will be particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed.

I have fully and clearly illustrated my invention in the accompanyingdrawings to be taken as a part of this specification and wherein:

Figure l is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of a cablewayillustrating one em bodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a similar Viewillustrating the invention, showing diagrammatically one type ofcableway system to which the invention is adapted. Fig. 3 is adiagrammatic plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is anenlarged diagrammatic plan view of an intermediate tower such as isshown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the head or topportion of an intermediate tower or support illustrating the arrangementof the compensating means. Fig. 6 is a vertical central section view onthe line 6-6 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 5.

Before proceeding with a detailed description of one embodiment of myinvention I desire to state that I do not limit myself to theapplication or embodiment of the invention in any particular type ofcableway system as far as relates to the method of traversing the loadalong the cableway and hoisting and lowering the load, as the inventionis capable of use, and is intended to be used, in any form of tandemcableway.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, and particularlyFigs. 1, 2 and 3, 1, 2 designate end supports in the form of. towerswhich may be of any height and construction to suit them to the purposesfor which they are intended, or the conditions of the installation mayrequire, and 3 designates an intermediate tower arranged between the endtowers l, 2. In the particular installation upon which this applicationis based and exemplified by the drawings herein, the end tower 1 is 150feet in height, the tower 2 is 165 feet in height and the intermediatetower is 230 feet in height. The distance, or span between the towers 1and 3 is 1510 feet, and from the tower 3 to the tower 2 is 1525 feet.

4, 5 designate the main supporting cables stretched between andsupported. by the towers 1, 3 and 2, 3, respectively, said cables attheir outer end portions being carried over the end towers 1, 2 andconnected at their ends to suitable anchorages 6 (see Figs. 2 and Thesecables 4, 5 are arranged in longitudinal alinement or in tandem, asclearly shown in the drawings, and have their inner or adjacent endsconnected to the intermediate support 3 in such a manner that theintermediate support or tower will not be subjected to the full stressof the load on one of the cables pulling on the support in onedirection, but such stress or load will be distributed so as to besustained in part by both cables, or all of the cables, if more than twoare employed, and resisted by the anchorages at the ends of the cablesso that the pulls on the support in opposite directions are balanced. Iaccomplish the result just stated by connecting the inner ends of thecables 4, 5 to a compensating device mounted upon the intermediate towerso that an excess strain on one of the cables, instead of being entirelydirected on the tower, is transmitted through the compensating device tothe other cable so that the latter in effect resists the pull on thecable sustaining the load and transmits the strains to the head towersand to the anchorages for the cable and exerts a pull on the intermediate tower tending to counterbalance the excessive strain. Thiscompensating means is clearly illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 and willnow be described.

Rising from the head or top of the tower 3 are spaced vertical plates orstandards 7 connected at their tops by a connecting member 8, and bracedand stiffened in any suitable manner so as to withstand the strains towhich they are subjected. Mounted at its ends in these side plates 7 isa transversely-extending horizontal pin 9 upon which are pivotedsuspension members 10 spaced from the side members 7 by means of collarsor sleeves 11 on the pin 10 and from each other by means of anintermediate sleeve 12. These members 10 are arranged to depend from thepin 9 and to swing freely in a vertical plane through the space betweenthe members 7, 7 to either side of a vertical line through said pin 9,as clearly indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 7 of the drawings, in whichfigure the member is shown as swung to the right.

Pivotally connected to the members 10 below their point of suspension,and preferably adjacent the lower end thereof, are connecting members13, 13 extending in opposite directions to the outer ends of whichmembers, 13, 13 are connected couplings 14, 14 for the main cables 4, 5.The pivotal connection between the members 10 and 13 may take a numberof forms, but I prefer to employ a pivot bolt 15 passing through themembers 10 and the inner ends of said members 13 which are locatedbetween the members 10. By this arrangement it will be seen that, shouldthere be an excess of load upon one of the cables 4 or 5 over that onthe other cable, instead of said excess of load operating to tip or totend to tip the tower 3 toward the cable of greater deflection, thecompensating device will permit the cable carrying the greater load toin effect lengthen, as the members 10 will swing toward the cablecarrying the greater load, and this will serve to stretch or tighten thecable sustaining the lesser load and thereby increase its tension, andits pull on the support, so that said latter cable will in part resistand sustain the load on the other cable and the opposing pulls on thetower will be counterbalanced to a sufiicient extent to relieve thetower of any dangerous strains tending to tip the same. In Fig. 2 I haveindicated the greater load as being on the cable between the towers 2and 3, which will necessarily cause this cable to sink and therebytighten up. and increase the tension in the other cable between thetowers 1 and 3, which is sustaining the lighter load, the latter cableand its load thereby serving to oppose the heavier load andcounterbalance the strains on the center tower so that there issubstantially an equal pull exerted thereon by both cables- By the-abovearrangement I am enabled to do away with the extensive system ofguyswhich would ordinarily be required for the tower 3, some of whichguys would extend in the general direction of, or parallel to, thecableway, so that the space between the towers is free for operation ofthe hoisting and transporting means. In the form shown I may use guys 16extending laterally from the tower 3 to resist tipping strains in thegeneral direction of the cableway, but they may have their ends anchoredlaterally out of the path of the cableway so as tobe out of the way ofthe hoisting and transporting means. I may also employ wind guys 17 toprevent side tipping of the towers under force of the wind.

In the present embodiment illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown thecenter tower as having two compensating arrangements so that theinstallation will apply to the parallel cables of a dual cableway inwhich the main cables arearranged in tandem. In

this arrangement the pins 9 may be connected by a suitable connectingbar 18 to brace and sustain the support for the compensating means.

While, as above stated, the invention is not limited to any particularsystem for hoisting and transporting the load, I have described it aboveas applied to the main or supporting cable for a load carriage, and haveillustrated a system including a carriage 19 adapted to travel on themain cable, said carriage being operable by an outhaul line 20 passingover the end tower, as at 21, and having its end portion wound on a drumof a suitable hoisting engine 22, the outer end portion of the outhaulline passing over a sheave 23 journaled in the upper portion of theframe 7 on the intermediate tower whence said rope passes down andaround a sheave 2% on said frame, whence it is carried parallel to themain cable and connected to the carriage, as at 25. An inhaul rope 26 isconnected to the carriage, at 27 and passes therefrom over a sheave 28on the end tower and thence down to the engine 22. 29 designates thehoisting rope extending from the engine 22 over a sheave on the headtower, and thence to the main carriage, where it passes over suitablesheaves and blocks and may be provided with means for lifting the load.A button rope 30 may also be provided for supporting fall rope carriers(not shown). In view of the fact that the particular system of cablewayforms no part of my invention I do not deem it necessary to enter into afurther description of the same.

It will be understood that the compensating member 10 may be of such alength as to cause the strains to be balanced sufficiently to protectthe support, or to substantially equalize the strains, but in thepresent embodiment I have made the member 10 two feet nine inches inlength from its pivot center to the cable connections with the saidmember, which is sufficient length to provide for such compensation orcounterbalancing as will distribute the loads on the cables so as torelieve the support of excessive strains,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe but my invention is intended to cover all degrees of compensationfrom one which is practical and satisfactory under given conditions toone which is substantially a true counterbalance.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis 1. In a cableway, in combination, an intermediate support, a memberpivoted on the intermediate support and depending from its pivot, andcables each connected at one end to said member below its pivot andhaving their opposite ends connected to a support.

2. In a tandem cableway, end supports, an intermediate support, apivoted member on the intermediate support depending from its pivot andcables supported by the end supports and connected to said member belowits pivot.

3. In a tandem cableway, in combination, outer supports, an intermediatesupport, a horizontal pin on said intermediate support, a rigid memberpivoted to said pin, connecting members pivoted to the rigid memberbelow said pivot pin, and cables arranged in tandem and connected tosaid connecting members and supported by said outer supports.

4:. In a tandem cableway, in combination, outer supports, anintermediate support, a horizontal pin, a compensating member pivoted onsaid pin and suspended therefrom, cables supported by said outersupports, and means for pivotally connecting said cables to thecompensating member.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM JAMES ALEXANDER RANKIN.

Witnesses:

M. E. MCNINCH, C. G. HEYLMUN.

in combination,

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

